Do You Take Shelter In Your Thoughts?

Today we welcome Rula as our Guest Author! I love the way Rula brings the conversation to a deep and profound level here at Life, for instance. Take it away Rula!

Have you ever taken shelter in thoughts that say something like: “Once I achieve/resolve/accomplish this one thing I’ll be happy”? Yesterday I found myself feeling anxious and began to plot the best way ‘out’ of this burden of anxiety. I heard a voice say, “how about those chips in the cupboard you’ve been saving – or perhaps a little wine?” I was tempted for a moment but then consciously and confidently replied, “No! That would be like treating an infection by forgetting there’s a wound!”

Instead, I took shelter in the thought that someday I would attain enlightenment and everything would be okay. Yes, recognizing the Light that emanates from within my Being is my dream, and for a few minutes I felt at ease in that dream which took me away from the only moment in which bliss can ever actually exist.

Soon my heart began racing again as my mind projected all kinds of fears and I realized that my thoughts were nothing but ‘comfort foods’ on which I indulge to feel temporary relief despite knowing that I’m bound to feel heavier and more burdened in the long run.

Why am I so unwilling to face the only moment in which Life actually exists? Why do I trade suffering NOW for suffering ‘later’ when ‘later’ always appears in the NOW? Why am I so psychologically unwilling to accept what simply IS as IS without searching for a way ‘out’?

I find it so strange that I postpone action in order to dream of action. I postpone my goal in order to revel in the dream of attaining that goal. But what do I actually do to make my dream come true?

Compulsive mechanical thoughts like the ones which project my fears put me out in the rain. They keep me drifting, homeless, and aware only of my narrow reality. Thought then attempts to shelter me from the false reality it created by again superimposing itself over the Present. So thought creates burden on one hand and tries to escape it on the other. Life is HERE and NOW, but I’m ‘then’ and ‘there’!

What would I realize if I faced the burden NOW and accepted the moment without judging or comparing? Is it possible that I’m already home? Am I a queen searching for her crown though she already sits on the throne? Am I combing the land for treasure I’ve been sitting on all along? Have I wandered from the shelter of my tree to take comfort in its shadow?

Do you take shelter in your thoughts? Does indulging in thought ever keep you from living your intended life in action?